In an interview yesterday, Basa, Covenant-Saipan, said the latest version of House Bill 17-45 will reduce working hours from 80 to 72 by shutting down government offices every other Friday at least until the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30.
The Public School System, the Departments of Public Health, Public Safety and Corrections will be exempted.
Basa also disclosed that his committee is already contemplating on austerity measures for fiscal year 2011.
This involves of having two non-working Fridays while still allowing employees to work for 72 hours per payroll
period.
This will allow the government to further cut its power bills, Basa said.
Employees, for their part, will save money on gasoline because they don’t have to drive to work on two Fridays.
Basa said this scheme may be included in the new budget bill.
